Meeting of Mr. Sabri Godo with residents of Rubik On Friday, March 31, 1995, at the cinema in Rubik, the Mirditë district branch of the Republican Party organized a meeting between the chairman of the Albanian Republican Party, Mr. Sabri Godo, and residents of this town. Members of the APR National Council also took part in the meeting: vice-chairmen Gjok Beci, head of Propaganda, and Neritan Alibali, head of the Party’s Press and Information. At the outset, the APR chairman spoke about the current problems facing the country and, in particular, Mirditë. He then answered questions from those present. “Many parties come to you. They speak, make promises, and then leave,” Mr. Sabri Godo said at the beginning of his speech. “But you are the ones who judge them. The Republican Party is not a party that promises things that cannot be achieved. We know the hardships of the people of Mirditë. Mirditë is poor. 30% of people get their bread on credit. The only source of income is copper. But the mines are not operating. The government pretends not to know why they are not operating. This is irresponsibility. It blames the workers when in fact it is itself to blame. The state’s incompetence and lack of organization have blocked the mines from functioning. Mirditë has copper reserves for 20 years. Had the mines been operating, such reserves would have been accumulated and, at today’s favorable world-market prices, would have generated substantial profits. But the state’s strategy has been to shut down everything that appeared unprofitable. This has resulted in 400,000 unemployed people and the closure of almost all enterprises. Now the government calls it a great success when it gets some enterprise operating. The country will move forward only by encouraging national production. And this can be achieved through laws that support employers. There are no such laws in Albania. There are only high taxes. And this is one of the many mistakes of the government.” Regarding the Right-Wing Union, Mr. Sabri Godo said that its creation was a historical necessity. “The Right had to unite to avert the communist threat. It should also be emphasized that there is a monopoly of the two parties, PD and PS. At the heart of the PS program is the social market economy, as a transition phase for restoring the centralized economy. Meanwhile, PD, with its shifts from a social economy to shock therapy, does not know what it wants. The Socialists hope to gain power. If they come to power, the West will leave us to our fate. That would be a catastrophe for the nation,” the APR chairman went on to say. “If the people support LDSH, it will become a barrier to the Socialists’ rise to power. And we are convinced that the people will support us.” “While the Socialists are working to gain power, PD insists on governing only with loyal party members, most of whom are incompetent.” With regard to the draft law on the sale and purchase of land being prepared by the Government, the Republican leader declared that the RP had opposed it and would continue to oppose it forcefully. “If this draft law is approved by Parliament without repealing Law 7501 and without clarifying ownership in favor of the true owner in Albania, there will be confusion, tensions, and social conflicts. We must not allow that,” concluded the APR chairman, Mr. Sabri Godo.

A new communist draft law After Parliament sent back the draft law on pastures last year, a new draft law prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture and approved by the Council of Ministers is expected to be submitted to Parliament for discussion in the coming days. The essence of this law is the return of existing pastures to their owners. Bringing this law forward for discussion will leave the owners empty-handed. Albania had 1.15 million hectares of pastureland. Looking at the statistics for March 1995, it emerges that only 395,691 hectares remain. A full 854,309 hectares of pastureland have had their designated use changed by the former communist regime. The statistics say they have been turned into agricultural land, but this too is hard to believe, because agricultural land ... What will happen now, when in northern Albania only 110,000 of the 500,000 hectares of pastureland remain; when in central Albania only 55,000 of 300,000 hectares remain; and likewise in the south, only 230,000 of 400,000 hectares? The total destruction of pastures is one reason why small-livestock farming is developing extremely slowly. The Ministry of Agriculture has no documents showing whose land they were. Only 24% of the pastures were privately owned, and the rest belonged to the municipality, the state, a village, or a region. Can this draft law resolve this contradiction? Under articles 3 and 4, it will bypass it and open up the very same problem that, in the time of King Zog, led 300 regions to be involved in court cases (solely because regional pastures had not been precisely defined), accompanied by numerous killings. Can former pastureland converted into agricultural land under the PD law be divided up as is being done today? If the true owner produces the mortgage-register document showing that it was pastureland and not agricultural land, what would that mean—that the new owner of the Vrines farm and all the other farms must automatically be expropriated? In other words, he should not be given ownership today, so that he will not have to be expropriated tomorrow. Should the issue of agricultural land be resolved under the draft law proposed by the RP, only for them then to be left empty-handed? ... further aggravate the problem left unresolved by the PD for three years, because in substance the law on pastures is the same as the one on land. This draft law contains the provisions on the return and compensation of property that are in force today; the only change is that the words “agricultural land” have been replaced with the word “pasture.” Even if it were desired to divide up the pastures here and now, this would be completely impossible. According to the 1944 statistics, pastureland has increased by only 170,000 hectares; the remaining additions came from draining swamps and other methods. Although the law has been drafted and is ready for Parliament, no one has compiled records showing which owners these remaining hectares belong to—which means that the pastures, too, will be plunged into the crisis of agricultural land. Given the degradation of the pastures over these 50 years and their destruction over the past four years, 80% of agricultural land under normal conditions would require the new owner of the Vrina farm and all the other farms to be automatically expropriated. In other words, he should not be granted ownership today, only under the draft law proposed by the PD, be resolved first, and only then should consideration be given to how the pasture issue will be resolved? Any current attempt at an arbitrary solution to the problem is mere propaganda, because reality itself is the best evidence against it. Drafting bills and sending them to Parliament is not a plan that the Ministry of Agriculture should implement. It must substantiate everything so that once the law is passed, it can be implemented and not left hanging, like the land law has been for three years. B. MALO

Four years ago, during anti-communist protest demonstrations, four young people were killed in the city of Shkodër. After the most recent victims in February of that same year, these young people would bring the number of young people whose blood would be the price paid for the change of power in Albania. The Democratic Party, then in opposition, used Arben Broci and his friends, who were killed on that April 2, as one of the banners in its political struggle. In protest, PD deputies even managed to walk out of the proceedings of the parliament elected on March 31, 1991, although they did not return to take their seats in the parliamentary chamber. PD spoke at great length, and repeatedly, while in opposition, about the martyrs of democracy, as the four were called at the time; direct accusations were also made against some of the officials of that time, including President R. Alia. The people gained the impression that once PD came to power, democratic justice would set everything right by tracking down the real criminals and giving them the punishment they deserved. But, as with other matters, PD leaders would not pursue the April 2 case to the end! A trial was held against some former police officers and a former head of the Department of Internal Affairs; sentences were also handed down to some former officials of the government and the former PPSH, but everything remained murky, leaving several fundamental questions unanswered. The actual perpetrators of the April 2 crime were not caught; indeed, there was talk that they had gone to Greece. Instead, several local police chiefs were sent to trial and then to prison, on the grounds that “they were the ones who had ordered the shooting into the crowd.” But given the fanatical centralism that prevailed throughout the ranks of the communist government, by this logic the real criminals should have been sought higher up. So why was a former deputy minister of Internal Affairs used as a “ceiling” for the investigation? To this day, today’s officials and PD leaders accuse figures such as Ruci, Nano, and Alia of responsibility for the April 2 massacre, but how could these people have remained “out of the picture” for so long? There are two possibilities: either the officials were unable to gather the necessary evidence against the aforementioned figures, or someone does not want to pursue the case to the end. In any event, the “April 2 case” completes the picture of that characteristic tendency of PD governance to leave things unfinished, halfway down the road.

On 30.03.1995, representatives of the groups affiliated with the Right-Wing Union gathered at the headquarters of the Association of Former Political Persecuted Persons in Kavajë. After discussing the situation in the country from every angle and seeing the great danger of communism’s return, they decided to cooperate under the following motto: 1. The homeland and the national question above all. 2. To regard the Association of the Persecuted and that of the Kullakë as primary formations in the country’s political life. The persecuted are heirs to the traditionally deep democratic anti-communist struggle, a tradition established through the risk and endless suffering endured in the past. 3. To strengthen the unity and cooperation of all right-wing forces in this part of Albania and consolidate the future democracy in Albania. 4. The national issue of returning property to its lawful owners and preventing the land expropriation law, by setting out and doing what is incumbent upon genuine Albanian nationalists: defending the nation against left-wing and national-communist hypocrisy. 5. To establish the Union’s coordinating committee to discuss in advance matters of common interest to all Union members. 6. We call on all the Union’s coordinating committees in the country’s districts to work tirelessly in every district so that LDSH wins the upcoming election campaign. 7. We support, economically, the arming of the great army preparing the future of the Nation; pensioners, people with disabilities, orphaned children, and the impoverished strata of the biogjenisë. 8. Let us not allow Albania to become a field for the intrigues and deceptions of the Communists and social-communists; let us explain to the wider public that they should not accept the slogans and sugary propaganda of the social-communists. Let us persuade the broad peasant masses to accept the solutions offered by LDSH, even if they may be somewhat uncomfortable, because they are permanent and lasting. 9. We must carry the fierce struggle through to the end without any equivocation and allow no split in LDSH. For LDSH Kavajë Branch of the Association of Former Political Persecuted Persons Branch of the Association of Former Economic Persecuted Persons Branch of the Balli Kombëtar Party Branch of the Legality Party Branch of the Republican Party

On 17.03.1995, a meeting was held in Laç, in the Kurbin district, with representatives of the district’s right-wing political entities. The Association of Former Political Prisoners and Persecutees, the Legality Movement Party, the National Front Party, the Republican Party, the Democratic Union Party, the Democratic Party, and the Property with Justice Association. All participants at the meeting expressed support for close cooperation among all anti-communist right-wing forces to fight communism and neo-communism. Only the Right can save the nation from the red hyenas or the multicolored neo-communist chameleons, now “democratized.” Only the Right can uproot the corruption that has engulfed even the highest spheres of today’s government. All the entities spoke out unequivocally to the end, and we must not allow any rift Former Political Persecutees Branch of the Association of Former Economic Persecutees Branch of the National Front Party Branch of the Party of the Democratic Party

According to the chairman of the Council for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms, Adem Demaçi, from Kosovo “Bujku” reports— “Bujku” reports that in recent days, as a result of Serbian violence, 500,000 Albanians have been forced to leave Kosovo. Quoting statements by Rights and Freedoms in Prishtina, Adem Demaçi, the newspaper writes that one-quarter of the Albanians have left Kosovo, the most vital part of the nation, leaving the land untilled and their homes deserted. It is understandable, Demaci further emphasizes, that such a situation suits the occupier and deepens the realization of the occupier’s aims. ATSH

... further aggravate the problem left unresolved by the PD for three years, because in substance the law on pastures is the same as the one on land.

On 31.03.1995, all the right-wing forces active in the Gjirokastër district, guided by the higher interests of the nation and democracy and aware of the particular characteristics of our district, gathered at a round table. After discussions and debates among all the political groups, it was agreed to issue a joint declaration as follows: - Our primary task will be the national question, and joint efforts to unite the nation within its ethnic borders. In this way, national dignity will also be enhanced. - The determined and uncompromising struggle to eradicate communism remains a permanent task. After the blow it suffered on March 22, 1992, it recovered and currently poses an evident danger, which only genuine right-wing forces will finally eliminate. - It is for the people alone, through their free will and by means of a nationwide referendum, to determine the institutional form of the state, republic or monarchy. - Recognition and restitution of all movable and immovable property seized by the communist dictatorship through confiscation, sequestration, expropriation, expropriation, or any other means after November 28, 1944, is a fundamental condition for establishing genuine democracy and the country’s prosperity. Law 7501 on Land, dated 7.09.1990, is a typical communist and anti-national law. The approval of the draft law on the liberalization of land and its possible passage for approval in Parliament constitute a criminal act and high treason against the national interest. The demographic movement of the population must be controlled by the state without infringing, under any circumstances, the interests of the legitimate owners. Their settlement should take place on state lands. - All the activities of the privatization boards must be reviewed, as they are one of the main hotbeds of corruption. (The government decision itself to retain privatization documents for up to one year is the clearest proof of this.) Only the establishment and functioning of a genuine state governed by the rule of law will ensure the preservation of order, people’s peace of mind, and the country’s economic development.

Rugova against protests in Kosovo At the press conference held yesterday in Prishtina, President Rugova spoke highly of the demonstrations and protests taking place in the USA and several Western European countries in support of Kosovo’s independence, and announced that once they concluded there would be no uncontrolled political mobilization of the Albanians. Rugova described uncontrolled protests as very dangerous in this situation, when, as he said, violence and intensified repression are signs of provocation and a warning of a greater provocation to come. It is not necessary for Albanians in Kosovo to draw international attention with protests because, Rugova said, the world has its own problems clearly in view. ATSH

Today is a memorable date for us, and we do not have a party because our party is ... . On this date, our party cannot even reach the politicians and hold on to what has been held for 50 years with p... Give the pastures to anyone you like, just don’t return them to their owners. But think about it: if the pastures really belong to their owners, don’t return them! They don’t deserve them. When I told them we would eat grass, they said no. Now we won’t return the pastures to them. We’ll eat them ourselves, but we won’t give the owners even a blade of grass. My contribution to democracy cannot be measured against anyone else’s contribution. Not against the contribution of ... or S... or P... My contribution is unique. After many ministers and many people in high-ranking positions, such as me, at the trial on ... day in Sh... it will also mean the radio with the ... largest left-wing center. A serious and transparent explanation of this formula would require the Socialists to state their position before the electorate. I had a bad dream: a minister was crying like a child while a journalist fed him with a bottle and said, “You grew old crying.” May you live to be 1,000 years old crying! Who are you to want to remove me? When I was fighting, you were playing marbles with a spoon. What do you think? I deserve the status of a persecuted person. I fought birzhos, to express dissent. Gambling is a Western phenomenon. Some people are still against bizhoit today. They are either nostalgic or fundamentalists. I tell them that, in order to make up for lost time with bizhoit, the government will make major investments, employing a large number of people. We’ll do everything the way we know how. The government has found itself in a ... and a former minister who is neither red nor ... . According to analysts, who may be chosen for the Albanian political spectrum, this will increase considerably in the last days of autumn. THE CHRONICLER